November 7, 1791 · Northern Province Theater
November 7, 1791
French colonial forces ambushed and killed Boukman Dutty in combat near Cap-Français in November 1791, just three months after the revolution he helped ignite. The French displayed his severed head on a spike in the city's main square, hoping to demoralize the rebels and prove their leaders were mortal. The colonial authorities also published a statement declaring that the revolution's spiritual underpinnings had been severed. They could not have been more wrong. Boukman's death only hardened the resolve of those fighting under other leaders, and the revolt — now embracing tens of thousands — had grown far beyond any single individual.
Commanders